Ears are particularly susceptible to the discomfort associated with cold weather. As such, throughout history, garments and accessories have been made to protect, cover, and/or warm ears. Such garments and accessories range from hats with ear flaps to balaclavas to headbands to earmuffs. Classic earmuffs include a band that stretches across one's head and end in a muff on each side that covers each ear. The band of the earmuff often includes an adjustment mechanism to accommodate larger or smaller heads. The band can be uncomfortable on the wearer's head and often slips around on the head so that the muff portion also slips from place on the ears. In addition, the attachment mechanism for the muffs to the band can be awkward and get caught in the wearer's hair. Therefore, there is a need for earmuffs that eschew the uncomfortable and unwieldy band and that stay in place over the wearer's ears.
Endeavors have been made toward this end. U.S. Pat. No. 379,965 to Lippincott, for example, discloses an earmuff with a fastening by which it is attached to the sweat-band of a hat. The fastening includes projections on one piece and corresponding depressions on the other piece, whereby the two pieces composing the attachment and being of spring metal may be locked together when positioned vertically to each other.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,303,850 to Liederman discloses a cap and earmuff combination where the cap has a cap band of stiffening material to which are riveted the means for attaching the earmuffs.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,333,392 to Rosenzweig discloses earmuffs which may be mounted on a hat or cap, where the earmuff includes a member made of a single piece of resilient wire that is external from the earmuff covering portion, a looped frame portion to support a covering, and a clamp consisting of a pair of pressed together spring clamp portions.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,442,825 to Rabushka discloses an earmuff arrangement for use upon a cap, which incorporates the use of bent metal clip-like members that preferably have depressed or indented portions therein.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,640,199 to Funk discloses a cap comprising a crown, a lining, and a headband disposed between the crown and the lining, said crown, lining and headband being secured together in the form of a unitary assembly and defining the lower edge of said cap, said crown being provided on each side above the region of the ears of the wearer when the cap is being worn with pairs of spaced parallel slits perpendicular to said edge, a relatively short strip of stiff material rigidly secured adjacent one of its ends to the headband on each side of the cap so as to be positioned above the ears of the wearer when the cap is being worn and passing outwardly through one of said slits and back inwardly through the other slit of each of said pairs so that a short portion of each of said strips is exposed, and swivel means swingably secured to the said exposed portions of each of said short strips for supporting earmuffs.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,050,739 to Fogarty discloses a device for supporting a pair of earmuffs that enables the support band to be retained on the head, while the earmuff support frame is slid along the band and clamped thereto in its adjusted position; the individual earmuff support frame being supported in such a manner that it can be rotated out of its normal mounting position, thereby moving the earmuffs away from the ears of the wearer.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,796,307 to Vantine discloses an ear protector for use with a headband or similar appliance, which protector comprises a cap member of sufficient size and shape for covering an ear; suspension means including first and second ends; means pivotally connecting the cap member to the first end of the suspension means for permitting the adjustable positioning of the cap member with respect to the disposition of the ear; means for attaching the second end of the suspension means to a headband; and means for securing the protector to the temple of an eyeglass frame, which securing means includes arms attached to the cap member, each arm having a free end, and means carried at each free end for detachably securing same to the temple.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,121,507 to Brown discloses an accessory attachment for headwear having a rearwardly disposed generally vertical rim portion extending around the rear portions of the headwear when applied to the head of a wearer, comprising, in combination, a plurality of U-shaped clips frictionally encompassing the rim portion and being positionable thereon in a plurality of selected peripherally spaced positions; each clip having a patch of hooked locking fibers secured to the outwardly facing surface of the clip; an accessory attachment formed of flexible material and having a band formed on its upper end; and a plurality of patched fibrous material secured to the band in the same spaced relationship as the clips, whereby the accessory attachment may be detachably secured to the locking fibers on the clips.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,426,790 to Robertson discloses an apparatus for protecting a person's ears from the damaging ultra-violet rays of the sun. The ear protector apparatus conveniently clips to the outside of a cap. The protective ear apparatus is positionable along the headband of the cap in accordance with the anatomical configuration of a person's head. Furthermore, the protective ear apparatus is removable and may be applied from one cap to another. The ear apparatus shades the ear, rather than covers it for warmth, like an earmuff.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,971,282 to Berge discloses earmuffs for use with protective headgear, primarily helmets, wherein the earmuffs are in the form of sleeves with flaps that overlap the edges of the sleeves, include a base element that spans a wearer's head and couples left and right sleeves, and include a chin cover that receives the portion of a chin strap that extends beyond the sleeve.
U.S. Patent App. No. 2008/0263749 to Leong discloses hearing protection muffs that comprise a sound attenuating cap, a self-attachment member for engaging the sound attenuating cap to the ear of a use, and optionally a sealing member.
U.S. Patent App. No. 2011/0113537 to Young-Hua Peng discloses a multifunction safety mask with earmuffs clip, composed of a front hoop ring equipped with a connection portion, including a brim hinge joint part, back hoop ring hinge joint part, and top belt hinge joint hole, wherein an earmuffs clamp groove is placed at the top side of the connection portion; a brim body hinged on the brim hinge joint part of the front hoop ring; a back hoop ring, in which the two ends of the back hoop ring are buckled in a front hoop ring and back hoop ring pivot hole; a top belt buckled, in which the two ends of the top belt are buckled in the top belt hinge joint hole placed at the two sides of the front hoop ring; and earmuffs including two earmuff bodies with a link plate between them, in which the two sides of the link plate enter and buckle in the earmuffs clamp groove; thus the mask not only is stably worn on a user's head, but also prevents the user from noise damage with the earmuffs stably buckled on the mask.
Although each of the above cited patents and patent application addresses some of the issues inherent in earmuffs none do so sufficiently. In particular, none is easily removable and reattachable and those that are removable either require a special attachment to the hat upon which they are attached or cause damage to the hat by virtue of their attachment mechanism, none may be easily and inexpensively manufactured, and none have a thin profile that allow them to easily fit in a wearer's pocket while not in use.